On Nature and Fate
by Duchess Eileen
Summary: Shot One;; Imbalance. Her hair was better down, or so he thought as he ran his fingers through it. Yea, down was definitely best. // One Shot Collection . NejiTen //


**D**_isclaimer_ : Oh, there was a farmer who had a series called Naruto and Kishimoto was his name-o! K-I-S-H-I-M-O-T-O!

**A**_uthor's_ **N**_ote_ : I'm in a writing mood. :3 I might spit these one-shots pretty fast. I know I already posted a story today, technically (at one A.M.), but heck... I then wrote this one, and I share my patience with Naruto. So, I'm posting it. :D Shorter then my the other one I posted today, though. But this is gonna be a bunch of one-shots. I can't do chapters, but I can do multiple one-shots easy. Who knows what I might write next... I'll probably update Because next. Don't be surprised if I manage to update that today. I really, really am in a writing mood. o.o;

I hope none of you mind if I all but spam with various stories. D: It's like some horrible disease. Must... write... and... eat... brains...

I actually wrote this one in third person. Wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. :D Thoughts of course would be appreciated on this, once you've read it.

Anywaaays. Enjoy. :D

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_The truth is balance. However the opposite of truth, which is unbalance, may not be a lie._

_- Susan Sontag_

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**. _//_****.****  
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**. /**_ shot one _**/ .  
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**. / **imbalance **/ .  
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**. // .**

"... completely uncalled for, erratic, and stupid too." The girl speaking started to tie the ends of the bandage, pulling it into a knot with a sharp, fluid movement. The boy winced. "If you had waited a minute, no, even two seconds, this wouldn't have happened." When the boy didn't respond, the girl went on. "It's called team work. It's not a half bad theory, you know. Seriously, next time you pull something like this..." She didn't finish. Pulling his sleeve back over his arm, she sighed.

There was a silence. Well, as close to a silence as the two teenagers were going to get. Lee and Gai could be heard, outside the cave, energetically chopping firewood.

"Well?" The girl prompted, her hands going to her hips, still clutching the bandage roll in one hand. With a sigh, the boy reluctantly turned to look at her.

"Sorry." He told her. Brown eyes inspected him, as the girl chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully.

"You really are something, Neji." With that, she began to pack up. He watched her, not offering any help. There wasn't a lot to put away. She worked quietly, head bent over, eyes fixed on her work.

His white eyes missed nothing. One of her buns was lower then the other. During the fight, it's tie had probably loosened, and the bun had shifted out of place.

It bugged him. He wasn't often obsessive-compulsive about things as unimportant as the position of her buns, but her hair, uneven as it was, caught his attention. And held it. He tried to focus on the things she was packing up; she'd used a wide variety of creams and sprays, all provided by Sakura, and was working on fitting them all into the small first aid kit. Personally, he thought all the different medicines were over kill.

Her hair caught his attention again, and he scowled. It needed to be fixed. If he pointed it out though, she'd probably just laugh at him. It looked like he would need to take things into his own hands.

The girl froze as he grasped the tie for the nearest bun to him.

"Eh, Neji, what are you doing?" She asked quickly, turning to look at him, shocked. Her turning did the trick, and the tie slipped out of her hair, hanging limply from his hand. Her hair cascaded down, framing her face.

It wasn't the first time the boy had seen her with her hair down. She was quite stunning. And she had always been.

"Hey!" She whined, making a grab for the hair tie. He held it up high though, out of her reach. He watched her, a small smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. Never would he admit it, but he loved to tease her. The girl glared at the boy, who simply continued watching her coolly with his white eyes. "Give." Holding out a hand, the brown eyed girl waited for the return of her hair tie.

In response, the boy pulled it taunt between two fingers, and then sling-shot'd it out of the cave.

"Neji." The girl said slowly, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth.

"Tenten." The boy responded calmly. He was enjoying himself.

"I'm going to kill you." In response, he reached out and attempted to grab her other hair tie. But the girl wasn't going down with a fight. She smacked his arm away, glowering at him. "No." She said fiercely, crossing her arms in front of her. He considered her for a moment, eye brows raised.

Then he reached forward again, this time grabbing her wrist when she attempted to swat his arm away. He collected her other wrist as she attempted to free herself using her other hand. Glaring, the brunette tried to pull herself away from his grasp. But his hold was strong.

He was smirking in full now.

"You're evil." The girl hissed, eyes narrowed, unamused.

"You're buns were unequal." He explained daintily, pulling her closer to him. The girl attempted to stand up, and the boy rolled his eyes.

"Let go." The girl commanded.

"Make me." The boy responded equally. He knew she was mad. But, whether she was more mad over the fact that he ruined her hair, or the fact that he almost got himself killed because he attacked a group of ninjas when the rest of his team wasn't present, he wasn't sure. Since the latter, the girl had been pretty upset with him.

The girl really needed to accept the fact that the boy was better at wrestling then her. More then once, they'd tumbled, and almost always to the same result.

"I win." The boy breathed a minute later. From below him, the brunette glared at him, hands pinned above her. He was straddling her, his legs successfully pinning her own legs down. Gathering her wrists into one hand, he used his free hand to pull her remaining hair tie out.

"You suck." The girl spat, "You stupid, cocky, know-it-all prick." Throwing the tie over his shoulder, Neji chuckled.

"Perhaps." Her hair unraveled onto the floor, and slowly, he ran his fingers through it. The girl tensed slightly, her face coloring. Catching his breathe, the boy's white eyes unabashedly stared at the girl. She attempted to avert her eyes, turning her head to the side, but he wouldn't have that. Placing a hand on her cheek, he pulled her face back so he could stare at her eyes.

They were very pretty. Chocolaty brown, almost dull in color around the edges, but brighter around her pupil. He liked that he could see himself in her eyes. Maybe it was a Hyuuga thing, but he found pupils quite intriguing. Something he could never have, something normal... he rubbed her silken cheek with his thumb.

"Neji...?" The girl said softly, staring up at him with her beautiful doe eyes.

"_Yush!_ Good job, Lee!" One second after the outburst, Neji and Tenten were several feet away. Gai and Lee burst into the cave, each carrying more fire word then they themselves weighed.

"Gai-sensei, are you sure we have enough?" Lee shouted enthusiastically as he dumped his pile onto the middle of the floor. Tenten quickly grabbed a few of the remaining creams, shoving them into the first aid pack, before moving out of the way of the rolling logs.

"Hmm, good question Lee!" Neji let out a sigh, closing his eyes and trying to mentally block his mentor. Dumping his own logs, Gai-sensei admired the huge pile of firewood.

"If you guys keep this up, there won't be a forest soon." Tenten complained, kicking a few of the logs away from her.

"Tenten, don't even bother." Neji commented lamely. "Nothing gets through their bowl-cuts, must less through to their brains."

"Oh yea, rival?" Lee shouted, puffing out his chest and glaring at Neji. "Well, I'm going to go chop a_ thousand_ more logs of wood!"

"Excellent, Lee!" Gai cried out, pumping his fist into the air. "Prove yourself the strongest!"

"Yes Gai-sensei!" The little spandex warrior turned on heel, and dashed out the cave. His mentor paused, and rubbed his chin.

"Hm. If he chops a thousand logs of wood, then... he will beat me!" Eyes popping open, Gai-sensei suddenly roared, "I shall chop _two thousand _logs of wood!"

The boy and girl found themselves alone again.

The girl laughed suddenly. The boy raised an eye brow at her, but she ignored him. Getting up, she walked over to the far side of the cave, inspecting the grounds for her hair ties.

The boy smirked.

If she found them, he would just pull them back out.

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**End**

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:3

Did you like it?

**_YOU DIDN'T?_**

**WHY NOT?** Well, make sure you tell me that! See that review button below this?

I'd love it if you hit it and tell me why. Or, perhaps this is a big misunderstanding and you actually liked it. Well, best clear that up! Do you really want to hurt my feelings? I'd think not.

Reviews make me squeal with joy. Even if it's 'nice story i liked it' I still am absolutely thrilled at the review. :D

I mean, I slave all day over a hot keyboard, and all you can do it not-review? D; Dun be that way. It hurts. Deep, deep down inside.

I'll be writing another one-shot and sticking it up here soon enough. :3 If you guys have any requests, or perhaps any suggestions as far as prompts go (as "Imbalance" was the prompt for this one) then tell me!

Beware of Manbearpig, as always. :D


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